The 100-Man Kumite
by acw28
Summary: The hundred man spar, the ultimate test of endurance and skill for any marital artist. Does recently promoted black belt Marco Diaz have what it takes to compete, to simply survive? And if he does, at what cost?


**Updated 1/6/2015: Forgot the disclaimer**

 **Hey everyone, it's acw28 here with a brand new story!**

 **So this is the first of two, possible three, planned "mid-quels" to my** _ **Star vs. the Forces of Evil**_ **story** _ **The Runaway**_ **. While this story can be enjoyed on its own, I recommend reading** _ **The Runaway**_ **first as I'll be referencing things that won't make sense unless you've read the other story.**

 **I know that the 100-man Kumite isn't portrayed with 100% authenticity within this story, but I believe I preserved the general idea of it while altering some of the rules as needed for the story.**

 **I'm rating this T for some suggestiveness. The way I'm writing this is that the characters are getting older, so some thoughts are going to be more apparent. I have a few suggestive lines, but I think they're mild enough for a T rating and I don't think I have enough to warrant an M rating.**

 **With that said, let's begin the story!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own either _Star vs the Forces of Evil_ or _Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja_ , both are owned by a company powerful enough to make a mouse gigantic.**

* * *

17-year-old Marco Diaz breathed out slowly as he watched his opponent rush toward him, a slight twitch of a muscle told the boy that the opponent would launch an attack from the right. With this in mind, Marco acted accordingly. Quickly stepping forward to meet his opponent's attack, Marco raised his left forearm to interrupt the overhead chop, then retaliated with three quick hits to his opponents midsection before quickly kicking the other boy aside.

As Marco settled back into his ready stance, he heard clapping to the side, the source a slightly overweight man wearing a black karate uniform with a red belt. "Very good Diaz." Once Marco heard this, he immediately relaxed before bowing to his sensei, then turning and bowing to his bruised sparring partner. Marco was about to walk back to the bleachers, only to hear his sensei say, "Wait a minute Diaz." Once everyone else was seated, the man continued, "You have been a member of this dojo for the past several years. In that time I have watched you practice uncountable hours in what I have instructed you in. I have watched you overcome obstacles most wouldn't even attempt. This last spar has shown me that you have truly mastered this dojo's style. I am proud to present you with this," here the sensei pulled something out from behind his back, "black belt. Congratulations Diaz, you've earned it."

Marco was speechless as he accepted the black belt. He quickly bowed to his sensei once more before quickly removing his brown belt and replacing it with his black belt. After thanking his sensei once more, the boy quickly took his seat on the bleachers, those around him patting him on the back and congratulating him. Marco half lessoned as his sensei gave another one of his inspirational speeches/lessons before he dismissed the class.

* * *

The members of the class continued to congratulate Marco as he was getting his things out of the lockers, all except one. "Well done Marco," the newly promoted black belt turned to see a boy a few years younger than him with buck teeth, "finally got yourself a black belt, over three years after I did."

Marco only rolled his eyes as he said, "Yeah it took my longer, but the difference between you and me, Jeremy, is that I earned mine."

Jeremy glared at Marco as he stalked forward and grabbed Marco's shoulder, "You trying to say you're better than me Diaz?"

Marco shrugged off the younger boy's hand as he said, "That's exactly what I'm saying. With your private lessons, special training equipment, and let's not forget your parent's check book, you wouldn't be wearing that belt, it may as well be made of money. Me? I spent days practicing each kata sensei taught us, I put our teaching into practice protecting my friends, I worked for this belt."

"So what if we got our belts in different ways? I got mine before you, so I'm still better!" Jeremy punctuated his sentence by sticking out his tongue.

Marco shook his head as he said, "No that makes you a spoiled brat."

"Fine, then we'll have to settle this between ourselves." Jeremy pointed to a poster taped to the back wall of locker room, "I assume you're going to Ninja-Con this year? Sign up for the 100 man kumite, whoever gets further is better."

Marco would have continued the conversation, if an alarm on his phone didn't go off. After quickly looking at the screen, Marco nodded as he said, "Fine Jeremy, now out of my way, I've got to meet up with someone." before shoving past the boy and out of the locker room.

* * *

Marco smiled to himself as he did a short grind on the end of the halfpipe before stopping next to Jackie Lynn Thomas, his girlfriend for the past two, almost three years. "Okay," Marco began, "I did the grind so it's H-O-R to H-O-R-S in my favor. Your move." Jackie nodded before she pushed down off the ramp, weaving between other skaters on the way to the bowl where she dropped in, did 5-0 grind along onside before dropping back into the bowl, only to pop up again, getting enough air for a stalefish grab. Her tricks complete, Jackie began skating back to her boyfriend.

As Marco watched his girlfriend skate closer, he noticed two girls he didn't recognize, probably from out of town, aiming their smart phones at him while smiling. Given the fact he was skating without his shirt, his clearly defined muscles on display, it wasn't hard to figure out why they were taking pictures. When Jackie made it back, Marco asked, "Why did I agree to skate like this today?"

Jackie responded quickly by saying, "Because it's the middle of Summer and hot as hell. Not to mention we both enjoy our eye candy." Marco had to admit he wasn't complaining about Jackie skating in her white-and-green-stripped bikini top and denim short shorts. "Yeah, I guess you're right on both accounts. Now if you'll excuse me." Before Marco could try to match Jackie's tricks, she quickly pulled the teenager in to quick, but heated kiss. Marco grinned like an idiot as skated down the halfpipe. Somehow he managed not to hit anyone, but had to bail out on the grind or risk breaking his ankle, again. As Marco skated back to his girlfriend, he noticed that his "photographers" now looked dejected, but didn't delete the pictures.

Getting back to Jackie, Marco offhandedly commented, "You've gotten a little territorial lately." The teen expected his girlfriend to laugh it off, only for the girl to say, "Blame puberty." Marco was going to ask for a more detailed explanation, only for the girl to seemingly read his mind and continue by saying, "It shouldn't be a problem, if it gets worse I'll tell you about it." Jackie then smiled as she said, "All tied up, you want to tell me what's on your mind?"

Knowing that Jackie wouldn't give up on the conversation, Marco sighed before saying, "I finally got my black belt today," he could tell that Jackie was about to congratulate him, but didn't say anything since Marco had more to say, "everyone in the dojo congratulated me except for Jeremy who mocked me for taking so long."

"So what did you do?" Jackie asked, hoping there wasn't another fight between the two, well a physical one anyway.

"I didn't fight him, not this time anyway," Jackie breathed a sigh of relief, "instead I said I earn my black belt instead of having my parents pay for it. That led to an argument which ended in me agreeing to participate in a 100-man kumite at Ninja-Con this weekend."

"You actually agreed to that?" Jackie asked as she stared in disbelief at her boyfriend. When Marco nodded, Jackie shook her head as she said, "For such a smart guy, you can be a real idiot at times." Seeing that Marco was about to ask why, Jackie quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket, it would forever be a mystery how there was enough room, and searched the web for something. Before Marco could ask what she was doing, Jackie shoved the phone into his hands as an eleven minute and three second video began playing.

"Okay that'll hurt in the morning. That bruise will last awhile. That's going to need some stitches. That's not supposed to bend that way. That ambulance arrived way too quickly if they just called it. Okay, I'm in over my head."

"So how are we going to fix this?" Jackie asked, "Are we going to have Star magic you up something or are you going to not show up?"

"I've got to go," Marco began, "if I don't then Jeremy won't ever let me live it down. I guess I need to have an intense training session," Marco then smiled as he finished, "and I know just who can help. Good thing Star's not in Mewni right now, we need to use her scissors."

* * *

After running back to the Diaz house to explain the situation to Star, and so Marco could put a shirt and one of his iconic hoodie on, the interdimensional princess quickly agreed to help. After a quick trip through a portal, the three teens found themselves standing outside the front doors of Norisville High. "So does anyone know where this guy lives?" Star asked.

"Yeah, I think it's this way." Marco awkwardly said as he began to led the group away from the school. Luckily Marco actually did know where to go, having visited the dimension when that eccentric guy with the fez and blue phone booth needed his help, but that was one memory he, Dipper, Hiro, and Randy agreed never to bring up again.

After finding the right house, Marco knocked on the door and waited a few moments until a teenage boy with spiky, purple hair opened the door. Immediately recognizing one of his visitors, the purple haired teen pulled Marco into a bro-hug as he said, "Hey Marco. Long time no see, what brings you into my dimension," the teen then noticed the two girls behind his friend and asked, "and who are your friends?"

"Hey Randy, I've been good. As for my friends, you remember my girlfriend Jackie."

"You mean the bossy mermaid you had in the sack the first time you were here?"

"Hey you got a girlfriend out of it didn't you?" Jackie asked, defending his taking charge of the situation. Randy nodded his head before facing Star and asking, "And you are?"

"Star Butterfly, interdimensional monster fighting princess. Nice to meet you mister?"

"Randy Cunningham." Randy simply answered before turning his attention back to Marco, "Not that I don't enjoy your visits, but usually when someone from our group meets up there's trouble. So what can I do for you?"

Marco chuckled before saying, "Well I got my black belt today, but then the twerp I told you about went on about how since he "earned" his first, he's still better than me. To make a long story short, I ended up agreeing to take part in a 100 man kumite."

Randy released a low whistle before saying, "I wish you luck in that, those things can get brutal."

"That's actually what I came here about," Marco began as he scratched the back of his head, "when I agreed to it I didn't know what I was in for. The event is only in a few days, but I really need the extra training. I figured who better to help me prepare to fight 100 men, then the one person I know as strong as 100 men?"

Randy nodded his head, knowing where this was going, "Let me go grab the mask then we can go to the field where I practice that new stuff the Nomicon shows me."

* * *

It was a twenty minute walk through the woods to get to Randy's practice zone. Once the four teens arrived, Star was confused when Randy pulled out a black and red mask. The princess was about voice her confusion only for Jackie to say, "wait for it." In a flash, Randy was replaced by a ninja wearing a black jumpsuit and a red scarf.

"So how you want to do this?" Randy asked, "Just hands and feet or no holds?"

"I'm just sparing against 100 different people, no monsters this time. Let's stick with hand to hand for now."

With that the two teens waited for a moment before charging at each other, both boys launching a number of fists and kicks, while the two girls walked over to the side to watch the spar and gossip. The spar went on for half an hour, both boys sweating, when a newcomer arrived.

"Cunningham," a chubby, red head boy wearing a blue shirt with an octopus began, "where have you been? We were supposed to go see Grave Punchers 4D. I checked your house and the Game Hole before coming here" The boy then noticed Star and Jackie, who had not gotten a chance to change out of her bikini top and short shorts, "And who are these two hotties? Hi, I'm Howard."

"And I have a boyfriend." Jackie replied.

Howard didn't let that fact deter him as he grinned and said, "I don't see him here."

Annoyed, Jackie pointed to the sparing pair, where Randy duked a hit from Marco which took some bark off a nearby tree, "He's right there."

Now a little afraid, Howard turn towards Star who simply said, "Not happening."

The conversation would have continued, only for an orange cloud of smoke to envelope the clearing. Once cleared there was yet another occupant in the clearing. This one wearing a white jumpsuit with an orange scarf and highlights, the skintight clothing showing the person was clearly female, stood between Marco and Randy, a naginata pointed at the former. The atmosphere was tense for a few moments until Randy spoke up saying, "Hey Theresa, what's up?"

"Nothing much," the girl replied, "McFist sent out a few Robo-Apes so I figured that I'd check up on my boyfriend only to find him being attacked."

"Wait," Jackie spoke up to defend her boyfriend, "first, I think this is a bit of a misunderstanding. Marco and Randy were just sparing. Second, you're the plant monster we saw last time we were here?"

Theresa seemed slightly embarrassed as she put her weapon away before saying, "Sorry, no one remembers what they did while they are Stanked. Since you know who I am, can I get your names?"

"I'm Jackie, she's Star Butterfly, and that's my boyfriend Marco Diaz. Now what's a McFist?"

Howard answered by saying, "The man whose company makes practically everything in this town but secretly wants to destroy the Ninja, who is Randy, so that he can be rewarded with a super power or something like that."

"Right, so we better go." Randy and Theresa got ready Smokebomb away, Marco stepped forward and asked, "Mind if I tag along?"

"Are you sure, it can get a little hairy." Theresa asked.

In response, Marco pointed over his shoulder towards Star and said, "I fight monsters with her almost every day, I think I can handle a few robots."

"Yeah, but I don't think you can punch a robot apart," Randy commented, "and do you really want McFist seeing your face?"

"Star?" Marco asked. Said princess huffed, annoyed she couldn't join in the fun or let another villain know about her wand, before conjuring up a pair of metal gauntlets for her friend. Marco quickly said thanks to his friend before putting the metal gloves on, then pulling his hood up to obscure his eyes. Nodding to the two ninjas that he was ready, the three Smoked Bombed away.

"Well come on," Howard said, "the Robo-Apes are probably downtown; we need to hurry if we want to see any of the action."

The two girls looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders and following the chubby boy into town.

* * *

Just as Howard had said, it looked like the trio had arrived too late to see the entire fight. The remains of numerous Robo-Apes littered the sides of the street while only a handful were left to continue fighting. Randy took care of one, bisecting it with a cray of "Ninja Sword." Theresa dismantled another one with her naginata. Marco took care of the last two, punching out their mechanical hearts with the aid of his gauntlets.

"I don't get why you thought that was difficult." Marco said as he freed his hands. "I've had more problems with an overgrown lizard."

"Oh no," Randy began.

"You really shouldn't have said that." Theresa finished.

Before Marco could question his friends' superstitions, the trio saw something fly overhead. It looked like a basic robot exoskeleton, only surrounded by fire and was producing enough trust to keep it air born. Marco would have made a joke about not knowing if the robot was evil, only to have a stream of fire be launched at him.

What followed was an hour of the trio dodging fire and traffic as they desperately tried not to get burned. Each tried to counter attack, but each was presented with a different problem. Theresa's naginata had the furthest reach, but also broadcasted her attacks the most. Randy tried using his ninja sword, only to have the flames act as a sort of shield. The ninja tried to mix it up and use some of his other tools, but his ninja rings only got obliterated by fireballs while his Tengu fireball only made the robot stronger. Marco tried to land a few fast combos, and actually did hit the robot, but he didn't seem to do much damage and ended up with his sleeves on fire, luckily the flames were put out before the boy was burned.

As the fight continued, Howard, Star and Jackie could only watch. Howard didn't have any ancient mask to give him kung-fu knowledge and there was no honking way he was getting possessed by an overgrown chicken again. Star couldn't expose her wand's power or else have this McFist person come after her, causing more problems later. Jackie wanted to jump in and help her boyfriend and the ninjas, but knew she was out of her element.

Seeing that the only way to beat the robot was to extinguish its flames, Jackie turned to Howard and asked, "Is there a large body of water around here?"

The boy nodded before ducking to avoid some stray flames. "Yeah, there's a good sized lake behind the school, why do you want to know?"

Instead of answering, Jackie started running toward the school as she called over her shoulder, "Just tell those three to get there."

Despite not knowing the plan, Howard still did as he was told and pulled out his cellphone to call his friend, who answered while dodging a flaming car. "Howard, please tell me you have some snappy one liner that make me realize how to defeat this thing!"

"Not quite," the red head replied, "although the one chick that your friend brought with him told me to tell you to head to the school's lake. She said she had some sort of plan." After hanging up, Howard said, "They should have this wrapped up soon, let's go back to the field and wait."

In that instant Randy would have face palmed, if not for the fact that stopping would likely end in a Ninja Bar-B-Q. "Okay thanks bro." After hanging up, Randy muttered, "I can be such an idiot at times," before yelling to Theresa and Randy, "We've got to put that things fire out, follow me."

The next few minutes were a fear-inducing run for the trio as they just barely keep out of the robot's range. Once at the lake, Theresa said, "Okay, so we're here, now what? How are we supposed to get that thing in the lake?"

Marco was about to say they'd think of something when he noticed a familiar necklace along with a pair of denim short shorts and some white fabric sitting in the sand. Smiling, the boy said, "Don't worry, I think Jackie has this part covered."

Theresa could only hope Marco was right as she saw the robot approach. All three of the martial arts experts got ready to dodge as their opponent hovered to get a target locket before firing any more fireballs. Just as the attack was about to be launched, a huge spike of water suddenly jutted out of the lake, completely drenching the robot.

While Randy and Theresa stared in shock, Marco's smile only grew, "Told you my girl would handle it."

Before anyone could celebrate the coming victory, the robot stood up and reignited its flames. The mechanical enemy was about to attack, only for another spire of water to erupt from the lake. Once the robot was once more on the ground, Jackie, moving too fast for anyone present to see, leaped out of the lake. With her shark tale and fangs on full display, the teenage mermaid was a frightening sight to her enemies. Before the robot re-ignited its flames, Jackie had pounced on it, then used her fangs to rip through its metal neck, destroying it.

Once she was calmed down, Jackie turned to the assembled teens and asked, "So are we done here?"

As he moved to collected his girlfriend's things, Marco said, "Yeah, I think so. You two mind?"

Instantly understanding, Randy and Theresa moved to stand next to their friends before using Smoke bombs to get back to the clearing. Once the entire group was together, Howard's jaw fell as when he saw Jackie's true form, luckily that made it easier for Marco to push the teen away as the group left to give Jackie some much needed privacy to put her tail away and get her shorts on.

* * *

Once everyone was assembled back at Randy's house, the group hung out for a bit, exchanging stories of adventures, fighting evil, and just normal days before Marco noticed the time. "Well, nice seeing and meeting everyone, but we've got to go."

"I understand man, but feel free to stop by anytime. Fighting with you and your girlfriend was the brucest." Randy said.

"How is it you got a mermaid for a girlfriend anyway?" Howard asked, extremely jealous.

"That is a secret I'll never tell." Marco replied with a smirk.

The conversation would have continued if Star did speak up, "So are we going or staying? Come on Marco, it's enchilada night!" Wanting to get one of her favorite Earth foods, Star quickly opened a portal back to Echo Creek.

Jackie moved to follow, but stopped and turned around to say, "Well I had fun, hope to see all of you again soon." then stepped through the portal.

Marco gave Randy a quick bro-hug before saying, "Later man, come hang out in my dimension some time." then walked through the portal, which closed soon after him.

* * *

Once the trio was back in their own dimension, Star immediately raced to the kitchen to start dinner. Marco and Jackie walked towards the house at a much more subdued pace. "It's getting pretty late," Marco said out of nowhere, "do you want a ride back to your aunt's place?"

"Considering I'm still dressed like this," Jackie replied, emphasizing her bikini top, "I'll take you up on the offer." Marco nodded before going into his house to grab the keys to his van, a gift from his parents when he first got his license; he wanted to get a muscle car but beggars can't be choosers. It was a short drive, one the two teens enjoyed in silence. Once they arrived at the house, Jackie gave Marco a quick kiss before saying goodbye. The teen watched as his girlfriend walked up to her house before opening the door. Marco chuckled a little as he heard Janna ask what kind of fun she had with her boyfriend dressed as she was.

After watching the door close, Marco put his van in gear and began to drive off, but he didn't go home. Instead Marco drove for ten minutes until he parked and met his dad outside a store.

After looking at his watch, the elder Diaz said, "You're late."

"Sorry," Marco began as the two walked into the store, "I had a bit of last minute training I wanted to do and time ran away from me."

"It's okay Marco." As he watched his son look over the displays, Rafael asked, "Are you sure about this son? I don't want to see you make a mistake this early in your life"

Marco only nodded before saying, "I've never been so certain about something in my life, this isn't a mistake, this is my future."

"Okay then, let's see if we can find what you're looking for." With that, father and son began to search the store with renewed energy.

* * *

Despite looking forward to Ninja-Con, there was always one part that Marco dreaded, the drive to the event. Like the previous year, Star and Jackie decided to tag along, but Alfonzo and Ferguson opted to stay behind and have a beach day, it was the middle of tourist season after all.

Unlike the previous year, Marco's parents allowed the boy to attend the event without them, and so Marco, Jackie, and Star piled into the teen's van early in the morning, the girls half asleep while two cups of coffee had the boy completely awake for the six hour drive. Despite dealing with rush hour traffic, the trio arrived at their hotel in time for a quick lunch before checking in and dropping off their luggage. Marco's parents had paid extra for two rooms, one for the girl's to share and one for Marco.

On their way to the convention center, the three teens ran into an annoyance. "Well what do you know?" Jeremy questioned. "I didn't think you'd actually show up Diaz."

Marco gritted his teeth while he said, "I told you Jeremy, I'm just as good, if not better, than you are. Today I'm going to prove it."

Jeremy just waved him off, "Whatever Marco, say what you need to help you sleep at night." The pre-teen then noticed Jackie and asked, "Why are you still with this loser anyway? I know several guys who'd pay just to talk to you."

"And that's way I'm still with Marco, he sees me for more than just my looks." As the group began to walk away, Jackie turned around to say, "As for Marco having trouble sleeping, he doesn't, I make sure of that."

As they left a stunned Jeremy in the background, Marco asked, "Did you have to say that? I mean we have had a lot of fun together, but we haven't done _that_."

Jackie only shrugged her shoulders as she said, "Who cares what the twerp thinks, and you know that we will eventually do _that_. More importantly, is she going to be okay?"

What Jackie was referring to was that Star had plugged her ears and started chanting, "I don't want to hear about my bestie's sex life," over and over again while walking with her eyes closed. A chuckle escaped from Marco as he said, "Give her a minute, I'm surprised she doesn't hear more about this kind of stuff given how much time she spends trying to get Oskar's attention."

* * *

Marco sat patiently as he waited for his turn. The sign up for the kumite was relatively simple, he just acknowledged the risks he was taking and that the convention center and Ninja-Con were in no way responsible for any injuries that may occur. Overall, around 500 people had signed up to participate, meaning in theory each spar would be against a different opponent, in reality many would bow out halfway through due to injuries or exhaustion.

Looking around at his fellow participants, Marco easily found Jeremy by looking for his buckteeth. Of the others that had signed up, only a few seemed to be around Marco's age, the rest were vastly older, easily in their forties, had multiple degrees to their black belts, some even had red belts. If he wasn't nervous before, he certainly was now.

Finally, it was time for Marco's first spar. As luck would have it, he was going up against one of the few that were his age, although the teen looked slightly older and was a second-degree black belt. After bowing to each other, both participants settled into a ready stance as they slowly circled each other, each waiting to see if the other would make the first move.

Marco internally debated whether he was fast enough to end the spar with one hit, but then his opponent made his move. Moving fast, the other teen fainted with his left fist before bringing up his right knee. Marco saw through the deception and brought his hands forward to block the knee, then retaliated with a palm strike to his opponent's stomach. Capitalizing on the opportunity, Marco then threw a few hits to his opponent's torso before launching a knee of his own, launching the other teen onto his back.

Both teens got ready to continue, only for the referee to declare the spar over, Marco being victorious. Marco couldn't keep the smile off his face, but he remained respectful and bowed to his opponent and the referee before both boys retook their seats. As he watched the next pair begin their spar, Marco thought, 'One down, Ninety-nine to go.' The teen would have begun scoping out his other opponents, only to have his thoughts interrupted when someone hugged him from behind.

"Way to go honey." Jackie said, congratulating her boyfriend.

Marco's smile grew even more as he replied, "Thanks Jackie. You're not going to stick around for all the spars are you?"

The mermaid raised an eyebrow before saying, "Of course I am, where else would I want to be?"

Marco scratched the back of his neck as he said, "Well, it's going to be a few hours and I don't have another spar for at least ten minutes, I wouldn't want you to get bored. Also, since I'm tied up and my parents aren't here, someone needs to keep Star out of trouble." Here Marco pointed to said girl, who was drooling slightly as she looked over a booth selling a number of different blades.

Jackie immediately knew what Marco was concerned about. After giving the boy a quick kiss, she said, "Don't worry, I'll make sure Star doesn't cause too much trouble. I'll be back for the last few rounds; break a leg, just not your own." Marco only shook his head and chuckled as he watched his girlfriend walk off while dragging Star away from a stack of Ninja Stars.

* * *

Even though she was away from her boyfriend, and playing babysitter to a destruction happy princess, Jackie actually was enjoying herself. Her and Star walked around the convention center looking through the booths, taking photos, and generally having a good time. Star kept trying to buy weapons, which resulted in Jackie dragging the girl away from many booths, although she made it up to the girl by buying a Ninja plush.

Surprisingly, it wasn't just marital arts on display during Ninja-Con. Yes it was the predominate theme, but there were a number of booths showcasing toys, video games, even kung fu inspired food could be found. What really surprised Jackie was the handful of "Adult-Centric" booths, each concealed in large, indoor tent so that the younger convention goers wouldn't be corrupted. The girl's curiosity go the better of them as the day wore on, and after passing the fifth such booth, both entered the tent.

Considering some of the stories she'd heard from Janna and other girls from school, Jackie thought the products were pretty tame, so for the next several minutes the girls made quite jokes about what was being displayed. Despite herself, Jackie ended up buying a revealing, but still slightly modest, kunoichi outfit when Star wasn't looking. It was more of an impulse buy than anything else, but Jackie figured it'd make a nice surprise for Marco someday. Thankfully all of the booths had the same bag, so once out on the convention floor no one would know what her bag contained.

After the girls carefully exited the tent, they casually began strolling amongst the crowds. After walking for ten minutes, the two teens found a familiar, but surprising face. "Theresa!" Jackie called out, getting the girl's attention, "What are you doing here?"

The baton twirler smiled before saying, "After Marco told Randy about Ninja-Con, he decided he needed to check it out and opened a portal here. I decided to tag along to make sure he doesn't cause a scene."

"You just came so you two could make out without Howard, his sister, your friend Debbie, or a McFist attack interrupting you, isn't that the truth?" Star asked with a raised eyebrow.

Theresa had the decency to blush, but said, "That is ridiculous. Where would you get an idea like that?"

"I don't know Theresa," Randy said as he walked up to the group, giving his girlfriend a bag of popcorn, "I just wanted to have a good time, you're the one who had me put on the mask so you could kiss me and get the free T-shirt." He then turned to the other teens and asked, "We should probably had back to the sparing rings, the 100-man kumite should be close to getting done."

As the group started walking toward the stands around the sparing arena, Star decided to ask a question that had been bothering her. "So Theresa, how do you have a ninja mask anyway? I thought there was only suppose to be one."

"Well funny story about that, McFist had his assistant create a computer program to see who was most likely to be the Ninja. When Randy's name came up one of the Robo-Apes went "rouge" and kidnapped Randy in the middle of class."

Randy took over the story, "But like a shoob I'd left the mask and Nomicon in my locker. As the school was being evacuated, my wonderful girlfriend stopped by my locker to see if there was anything that could help. She got a crash course in Ninja basics from the Nomicon and was allowed to wear the mask. To make a long story short, she came, she kicked butt, rescued my butt, and impressed the Nomicon to such a degree that she got her own mask."

Star and Jackie smiled at the story, happy to know another kick-ass female fighter who could be relied on in a pinch. The conversation would have gone on longer had the group not arrived at the stands, Marco's match in progress.

* * *

Marco didn't think he'd ever felt this exhausted before, but despite himself he still grinned as he was declared the victor in his 98th spar. In the course of the afternoon he'd had a mix of opponents. Some were laughably easy, while others pushed him to his extremes. As he slowly walked back to his seat, Marco saw his recently defeated opponent limp over to an official to withdrawal from the spars. Even with his latest victory, Marco knew he had several new bruises, but relished in the feeling of almost completing this feat. Of the approximate 500 people that had signed up, only he, Jeremy, and four other men remained. As Jeremy took to the ring with his opponent, Marco watched as to see if the younger teen presented any openings in his stance.

To many it was an achievement for someone so young as Jeremy to make it this far in the spars, however Marco and many others knew the boy's character. It didn't surprise the boy to see several of Jeremy's defeated opponents walk up to the boy's parents a few minutes after their match, only to walk away minutes later with a check. Given how long the fights had gone on for, it wouldn't be a hard choice for many to make a quick few grand and try again next year.

Marco's thoughts would have gone on, only to be brought back to the waking world on hearing Jeremy be declared the victor for the 99th time. Marco only shook his head as he watched the defeated man walk out of the ring with a heavily exaggerated limp. After the man left the ring, one of the officials had all the remaining fighters gather in the ring.

"May I have all of your attention please?" Once everyone settled down the man continued. "With our latest withdrawal we need to reset our matchmaking ageratum to ensure everyone gets the proper amount of rest between spars. It will only take a maximum of ten minutes, but we invite you to take advantage of the opportunity. Thank you."

After the man finished speaking, the participants began to break off to chat or relax. Marco saw Jeremy begin to make his way over to him, but then saw Jackie, Star, and surprisingly Randy and Theresa in the stand surrounding the ring. Not in the mood to put up with Jeremy, Marco ignored the boy while he walked over to his friends.

* * *

Jeremy was seething as Marco walked away, how dare that loser ignore him. As the bucktoothed teen stomped back towards the arena, he managed to catch a glimpse of one of the official's tablets. An idea quickly came to the boy's mind. Quickly finding who he was looking for, Jeremy tapped the close to seven-foot tall, ninth-degree black belt on the shoulder, or as far up as he could reach.

It took the man a moment to figure out who wanted his attention, and he wasn't pleased about it. "What do you want kid, some of us are actually serious about these spars."

"Look," Jeremy began, "I understand you're preoccupied so I'll make this quick. You may or may not be fighting Diaz in the next round. If you were to make it where he couldn't fight his hundredth spar, then I could compensate you for your time."

"You're asking me to willingly hurt my opponent?" The man asked quietly before shaking his head, "You got balls kid, but I'll pass."

Undeterred, Jeremy only raised his shoulders as he said, "These spars only happen once in a while, but they do happen more than once. This offer? It's a one-time deal, I'll come find you if you change your mind."

The man only shook his head as the kid walked away, although now he had a few new things on his mind.

* * *

As the official said, everything was set after ten minutes. Marco wasn't too upset that he was selected to go first, although he wished he was up against Jeremy instead of the giant. Gulping, he settled into a ready stance. Immediately, Marco had to bring his arms forward to block a fist. The impact caused his arms to go numb, and the boy to slide back at least half a foot. Things didn't get better after that, as the now exhausted Marco spent the next two minutes dodging the giant's blows, many grazing him.

Having enough of being the prey, Marco took his opportunity when his opponent over extended a kick. Marco rushed forward, delivering a number of fast jabs into the man's stomach. Despite using all his strength, the man only smiled as the blows connected. Knowing a fruitless endeavor, Marco quickly back away to avoid an overhead blow that sent shockwaves through the ground.

'Okay Diaz think,' Marco thought to himself as he began dodging again, "he's too strong for you to take a hit and get in a better position, and you're too exhausted for a straight fight. So what do you do?' Quickly a plan formed in the teen's head and despite everything that was going on, Marco smirked.

As the giant launched another roundhouse kick, Marco ducked down to sweep the man's remaining leg. Expecting this, the giant gave a slight hop over Marco's leg, acting as the teen expected. During the brief moment of giant's hang time, Marco quickly straightened up before using his right arm to hook underneath the man's right armpit and pulled forward. Even with the assistance of his opponent's earlier momentum, Marco strained his entire body as he Judo flipped the giant, the man landing on his back with a resounding thud. The arena was silent before the referee declared Marco the victory, then the crowd exploded into cheers.

Marco smiled at the hard won victory as he bowed to the defeated giant, only to be sucker punched in the gut. Before the teen could get his breath, he was upper-cuted, landing with a thud on his back. While still dazed, Marco attempted to roll away, only to be too slow. With a smile the giant stomped down on Marco's right arm.

The entire arena heard the sickening crunch as Marco's arm was broken. As multiple members of the security team dog piled on the giant, Marco carefully and painfully moved his injured limb toward his chest as he curled protectively around it. It took a few minutes for the event security to escort the giant away, it was then a pair of medics carefully helped Marco to his feet and helped him walk over to a first aid station.

* * *

Having experienced this pain before, Marco already knew that his arm was broken, but this time it was different. His previous breaks had all been fractures, breaks in the bone that were obvious to identify due to the large bumps they caused on the skin. This break was caused by immense pressure on the bone, it had been crushed, not fractured.

As it was only a basic first aid station, the medics had no way of knowing this, but they still took precautions. After carefully wrapping his arm to immobilize it and fight against future swelling, the one of the men then put Marco's arm in a sling before walking out to fill out a report and see about getting the teen to an actual hospital.

While he was waiting alone Marco began to reflect on his journey. He'd been so close, only to have one jealous opponent ruin everything. The teen would have continued these depressing thoughts if he didn't get a surprise visitor.

"Hey," Jackie weakly began, "you okay?"

"No, probably broke my arm again."

Jackie didn't like seeing her boyfriend, who was usually so full of life, so depressed, and she knew what she had to say next wouldn't change things, "I know you have a lot on your mind, but I don't think this was an accident, I saw the guy wink at Jeremy as he was being dragged out."

Instantly the sadness in Marco's eyes was replaced by shock, before being replaced by anger. "That son of a bitch!" Marco didn't have any other thoughts as he got up off the bed. The teen would have marched back to the arena, had Jackie not stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Back to the ring, I still have one more match."

"Marco don't be an idiot, your arm is broken. You go back out there and you're liable to get even more hurt, for what? Just to win a stupid bet!"

"It's not about the bet, not any more. Now it's a matter of honor, I'm going to show that twerp that his money will never compare to those who give it their all."

Although Jackie didn't want her boyfriend to go back out in the arena, she recognized the determination in his eyes. Sighing, she said, "Let me go get Star to patch your arm up."

"No," Marco began, knowing that he was about to make his girlfriend angry, "this is one of those things that I need to do by myself or not at all."

Marco was fully prepared for his girlfriend to yell at him. Instead she replied in a low voice that was worse, "Fine, but I'm not going to watch my boyfriend go out there to get hurt even more." Turning away, the girl pulled out her phone as she walked out of the first aid stand. "I'm calling Janna, a cab, or something, but I am out of her."

Marco watched as Jackie left before he could say anything. He knew he was being an idiot, he'd damaged his relationship with Jackie and he knew he'd need to do a lot to fix it, but right now he couldn't think about that. After waiting a few minutes for one of the medics to return, Marco put on the most convincing face he could and told the man that he was feeling better, that his arm was probably only sprained, and that he'd like to continue. The medic looked doubtful and advised Marco to seek further treatment, but couldn't force the boy into the ambulance.

* * *

As Marco walked back into the sparing ring, the crowd cheered for him. The teen took it in stride with a smile on his face and a wave to the various people. As Marco took his place beside Jeremy, he noticed they were the last two left. Not really wanting to talk to the younger boy, but with no other alternative, Marco whispered, "Where are the other two?"

Jeremy shrugged before replying, "They were members of rival dojos or something like that, ended up in a big fight before the referee started the match."

Any further conversation was stopped when an official walked to the middle of the ring. "Due to injuries and other unforeseen difficulties, this will be the last spar of the day. Both of these boys have been victorious 99 times, but now only one may complete the 100-man kumite. Boys, whenever you're ready."

Despite not wanting to, Marco still bowed to Jeremy before assuming his stance. This was going to be a tough fight. Although mostly due to money, Jeremy was a black belt for a reason, having a broken arm only made things harder for Marco, but he had a simple strategy, he'd play defensively and wait for Jeremy to slip up and capitalize on the mistake.

As expected, Jeremy rushed forward as soon as the spar began, aiming the majority of his strikes at Marco's injured limb. Yet in his hast to end the spar quickly, Jeremy was telegraphing his moves, making it easy for Marco to dodge. After a few minutes, the younger boy seemed to have cooled down and started fighting with more precision. Ordinarily, Marco would dodge or block all of the strike, but decided to let Jeremy land a hit on his left shoulder so he could retaliate by an elbow jab.

The look of shock Jeremy had when he was hit was priceless, but it made the boy realize just how far apart the two where in skill. Once more aiming to end the spar quickly, Jeremy moved in close and tried to sweep Marco's legs but aimed higher once Marco began dodging. The referee moved to end the match with a disqualification, only for the spoiled rich kid to say, "What? I was aiming for a legal blow, the damage was caused by this dweebs dodging."

The official didn't seem to believe the boy, but his hands were tied. Turning to Marco, the man asked, "Can you continue?"

His knee hurt like hell, but luckily, it wasn't broken. Marco nodded before retaking his stance. As the spar resumed, it was now Marco who needed to end things. He could outlast many opponents, but with his injuries he couldn't win a battle of attrition against Jeremy. Still dodging and blocking, Marco waited for his opportunity. When Jeremy overextended his arm trying to hit Marco's ribs, the boy took his chance.

Quickly changing his stance, Marco launched a heavy hit at Jeremy, the younger boy having only seconds to bring up his arms to block the attack. Even with his non-dominate arm, the force behind Marco's attack caused Jeremy to slide back at least a foot and a half. Before the boy could think of retaliating, Marco rushed forward and delivered a palm strike to Jeremy's stomach that knocked the wind out of the boy and knocking him backwards.

Jeremy had perhaps twenty seconds of hang time before he landed on his back, outside the ring. The crowd had been stunned into silence, but began cheering as the referee declared Marco the victory of his 100th spar. Marco smiled as one of the event organizers came forward to shake his hand before handing him a plaque commemorating his accomplishment, numerous photos being taken the entire time. Once all the fanfare died down, Marco began to walk away only to be stopped by one of the event organizers.

"Where do you think you're going kid? Aren't you going to stick around for the rest of the Con?"

"I'd like to, but I probably should go to the hospital to get everything checked out."

The man nodded before pulling something off his clip board and handing it to Marco, "Well here you go, you earned this." Already have a plaque in his hands, Marco awkwardly accepted the piece of paper. Once he got a good look at it, he realized it was a check, at seeing the amount, the boy's brain shut down with his only thought being, 'that's a lot of zeros.'

* * *

Marco groaned slightly while he tried to get comfortable on the hotel bed. During the short ambulance ride, Marco was able to call Star, thank goodness she finally got her own cellphone, so that she could meet him at the hospital and hold onto his place and check. After a quick x-ray showing that his right radius and ulna hand pretty much been destroyed, Marco ended up being rushed into surgery. A few hours later, the teen now had a metal plate in his arm to provide a surface for bone to grow on and a plaster cast around his arm to keep it immobile. The doctors would have preferred that Marco stayed another day for observation, but ended up agreeing to release him as long as he agreed to take it easy.

If there was one good thing about the hospital visit, it confirmed that Marco's knee wasn't broken. Although hurt and slightly swollen, no fractures were present. And that brought Marco back to his current situation, trying to get comfortable after adjusting the ice pack on his knee. Just when he was about to find the comfort zone, Marco heard a knock on his door. Sighing at the universe conspiring against him, Marco slowly limped over to the door.

The teen expected a number of people on the other side of the door. Star wanting to make sure he was okay, his parents rushing over to do the same and then lecture him on his carelessness, even Jeremy to claim that his victory was just a fluke. What he was not expecting was Jackie standing in the hallway wearing a bathrobe. "Hey." was the teen's intelligent response to the situation.

"Hey," Jackie responded, "can I come in?" Marco nodded before standing aside to let his girlfriend inside before closing the door and hobbling back to the bed. An uneasy silence permeated the air, driving both teens mad. Finally, when neither one could take it anymore, both said, "I'm sorry. What?" Again silence filled the air before Marco said, "You go first."

Taking a breath, Jackie began. "I'm sorry about what I said back at the first aid stand. I knew how important this was to you. After I had a chance to cool down and talk to Janna I realized that I was being a bit of a bitch." Moving closer to hug her boyfriend, but being careful of his arm, the girl continued, "You fight monsters everyday with Star and I don't worry about it because I know you have it handled, I should have trusted your judgement, no one knows what you can do better than yourself."

"I'm sorry too." Marco said as he began his own apology, "I was a selfish jerk. I made you upset because I cared more about showing a brat they were wrong than my own safety. I may have won, but I paid a pretty big price."

"How bad is it anyway?" Jackie asked, refereeing to Marco's broken limb.

"All things considered, not too bad. I'm going to have this thing on for a while, then some physical therapy when it comes off. It's also likely I'm going to have some nerve damage, but it could have been worse. How about you, what's with the robe?"

Jackie smirked as she said, "Well I heard from Star that you beat Jeremy in your hundredth match."

Marco interrupted his girlfriend as he said, "Yeah, got a plaque and this check."

On seeing the written amount, Jackie gave a low whistle and said, "That's a lot of zeros."

"Yep, enough to get the van fixed up and have a nice sum left over."

"Really?" Jackie asked with a raised eyebrow, "I would think you'd go out and buy a sports car with that kind of cash."

Marco shrugged his shoulders before saying, "It'd be nice, but the van would always have more room, it'd work better for what we talked about what we'd do after graduation. Anyway, you were saying?"

"Well," Jackie began again as she slowly undid the robe's belt, "after hearing of your great accomplishment I hoped that Master Marco would be willing to share a few secrets." Once she was finished speaking, Jackie opened the robe, revealing the kunoichi outfit she'd bought earlier that day.

The outfit had an immediate effect on Marco, yet he was somehow able to think rationally. "Jackie, as much as I love you, I'm not in the best shape to do that tonight."

Jackie's jaw dropped, not at Marco's refusal, but at what he said. Quietly, almost in disbelief, Jackie said, "That's the first time you've said you love me."

Marco immediately began panicking, thinking he'd overstepped his boundaries. "I'm sorry, I don't know…" Whatever else the teen was going to say was lost as Jackie kissed her boyfriend into silence.

"It's okay," the girl said, "I love you too."

Marco smiled before remembering something. Opening the door to the bedside table, Marco began, "I wanted to wait for a more romantic moment, but it just feels right now." Finally Marco pulled a small, black box out of the drawer. "I know the one part of the 1985 permit kind of makes this irrelevant, but I love you, and I want the world to know it." Here Marco opened the box, revealing a silver ring with a large emerald. "I know it's suppose to be a diamond, but your unique, our love is unique, I figured we needed a ring to match." Marco then shifted his body so that he was laying on his side. "So Jackie, even if I can't get on one knee right now, would you make me the happiest man in this dimension or any other and marry me?"

Jackie's shock quickly went away as she smiled, a few tears of happiness escaped from her eyes as she said, "Yes, of course I will! And I love the ring!"

Both teens smiled as Marco slid the ring onto Jackie's ring finger. After taking a moment to admire the ring, Jackie quickly pulled Marco into a kiss that began a long make out session. After the teens had had their fill, they laid beside each other in comfortable silence until they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"So where did you go last night anyway?" Star asked Jackie as she saw the girl as they walked through the hotel parking lot, searching for Marco's van.

"Well I went to go apologize to Marco and give him a surprise, but he gave me a bigger one." Here Jackie showed off the ring she'd been given the night before.

Star took a minute to admire the stone before saying, "It's a nice ring, but I think you have it on the wrong finger, isn't that one supposed to be for when you're engaged?"

"It is, and it's the right finger."

Star seemed to freeze as she processed the information. Once she came to a logical conclusion, the inter-dimensional princess pounced on her friend and demanded, "Marco asked you to marry him!?"

"That I did," Marco said from his spot beside his van, "but could you not yell it to the world? We need to tell my mom, Janna, and Janna's mom before we post anything online about it."

"Okay, I hear you loud and clear beastie." Star said while giving her best attempt at a winning smile while she held her phone behind her back, waiting for the opportunity for a social media blast. Jackie seemed to know what her friend was thinking as she quickly grabbed the smartphone.

"Just to remove any temptation for you to share the news, you're driving home." the mermaid stated.

Star visibly deflated when hearing that. Not only could she not share such great news, something she loved doing, but now she had to drive! It wasn't that she couldn't, it's just that compared to everything in Mewni, cars moved so slow, it was boring!

"Fine," the princess huffed, "but you two keep it PG-13 in the back seat. You two can have children _after_ the ceremony, not before."

Although both teens blushed at what their friend said, they never the less agreed to her terms. The drive back was mostly silence, Marco tired from yesterday's events and from the painkillers the doctors gave him, Jackie was content to snuggle with the love of her life, and Star had to focus on the road to avoid being the cause of a massive accident.

* * *

Once back at the Diaz residence, Jackie didn't waste anytime showing the ring to Angie, resulting in the woman almost crushing the teen in a hug, asking if the family should buy Marco a bigger bed, and telling the girl that while she'd like to be a grandmother one day, Angie still considered herself too young for the role.

A few hours later Jackie had to leave for Janna's house or risk being grounded. Marco wasn't there to see their reactions, but got a number of text from his fiancé later that night. Janna's mom apparently wasn't there, off on some witchy business. Janna on the other hand demanded details. Although slightly disappointed the two didn't do more than cuddle with their time alone, Janna almost immediately perked up, asking when Marco's bachelor party would be before going online to see how to prepare a hollow cake. Marco only chuckled as he spent the night texting his fiancé. He knew that he was probably in for a crazy life marrying Jackie, but it was one he wouldn't have any other way.

* * *

 **And that's a wrap for this one-shot at 19 and a half pages. I hoped everyone enjoyed the first "mid-quel" to** _ **The Runaway**_ **. I have one more solid idea that I want to write for this, I guess you could call it a series. I'll try to get that written up as soon as possible, but I'm probably going to take a small break from writing** _ **Star vs the Forces of Evil**_ **fanfics. I got a lot of other ideas that I want to work on.**

 **So for those who read my other stories, here's my tentative update plan. I'm going to work on the next chapters of** _ **A New Realm**_ **and** _ **One Small Change**_ **and have those posted when they get done. After that I plan on writing the first chapters of** _ **Kitsune of the Moon, The Bat and the Cat,**_ **and** _ **Deathwing**_ **, then post all of those at once when I have them finished. Assuming life doesn't throw a curve ball, which it probably will since the semester started today, I'm optimistic that I can get this done around mid-March, but please don't hold me to that.**

 **As for** _ **Son of the Sun,**_ **I haven't given up on it. I will update that story when I have some inspiration, which should happen once I get some time to research. I'd also like to start working on** _ **Lost Legacy,**_ **my RWBY crossover, but given the curve ball that series just threw, I'm going to wait and see how the show develops before setting anything in stone.**

 **So with my rambling done, I hope everyone had a happy holiday season and had, and will continue to have, a happy New Year. I did, I got to spend time with my family and my brother was nice enough to fix up my laptop (no more borrowing a dinosaur from my school every week!).**

 **I hope everyone enjoyed reading this one shot, and I hope I continue to entertain you with my crazy stories. So, until I have the time to type up my next idea, here's acw28 saying, "until next update."**


End file.
